iMacs get a spec update

Combat squirrel · 25 Mar 2019 at 15:43

Spit said:
I use Luminar and Affinity.

if you want to send me a trust I can send a video of things in use.

Thanks, would be interesting to see, sadly im so invested in the LR system and method of working editing enmass id find it seriously hard to change, I mean, I could try, but when your editing 100/1000's of images a week it would be a big change

Phemo · 29 Mar 2019 at 18:43

My mum bought one of these a couple of days ago to replace her base spec 2013 non-5K iMac. She didn't really need it but I've also popped in another 16GB of RAM so it's got 24GB now and it's running fairly nicely. Cost £90 to get the extra 16GB to bump up to 24GB rather than paying Apple £180 to bump up to 16GB so that was a no-brainer.

There is one thing that is possibly worth noting though. With her 2013 model I got her to get a custom spec with the 1TB Fusion drive and back then this was simply a 1TB mech HD and a 120GB SSD bonded together to appear as a single 1.12TB logical drive and it was absolutely fine for her needs. I was pleasantly surprised to see a 1TB Fusion drive is there in the base spec model now. This time however, it's a 1TB mech HD and only a 32GB SSD to make a 1.03TB logical drive. I know Apple made no claims about how much SSD storage there would be with the Fusions but I was a bit disappointed to see that it was only 1/4 of what it used to be.

Still seemed a bit meh to have the 2019 and the 2013 iMac side by side and to see that after 5 years they look absolutely identical too (except for the screen resolution in this case).

The_Abyss · 29 Mar 2019 at 20:48

They nerfed the Fusion drive not long after it was introduced. I seriously don't know why they do it, as it makes such a huge difference to the Mac's performance.

I used to appreciate the Fusion drive, but since replacing my 1.12tb one with a 2tb SSD the performance is night and day.

Feek · 29 Mar 2019 at 21:39

I combined my 256Gb SSD with the mechanical drive to make a Fusion drive and hated it. It didn’t suit my use at all.

Phemo · 29 Mar 2019 at 22:04

It’s near enough completely useless with a 32GB SSD now unfortunately. Had I known it only had 32GB I would’ve told her to go all SSD.

Have to see how much of a pain it is to open these ones up to sort that out.

ChrisD. · 30 Mar 2019 at 10:44

You’ll be able to send it back still.

MacRS4 · 30 Mar 2019 at 11:03

Just return it - they'll come pick it up too, their service is usually excellent.

Combat squirrel · 30 Mar 2019 at 12:02

Yeah return it - is 32gb buffer that bad then? You'd have thought the OS and apps would fit in that? - mind you as soon as you add your own data, pics music etc its going to go over to the mechanical.

Phemo · 30 Mar 2019 at 17:16

It's workable I guess. My mum hasn't complained about it but I'm sure loading apps seems slower than the older iMac. I restored a Time Machine backup so I suspect that just chucked things on the drive in no logical order which means the less important stuff like docs/pics are probably filling the SSD space.

Does the data just stay where it is for the Fusion drives or is it supposed to dynamically shift things about to keep most frequently used things on SSD space?

Feek · 30 Mar 2019 at 18:14

If you’re not happy then get it returned while you still can. If you don’t, you’ll regret it for the entire life of the computer, wondering “what if”.

MacRS4 · 31 Mar 2019 at 16:16

You can have a look at my run-through here. Have a cold, so yer.

Combat squirrel · 31 Mar 2019 at 19:03

If they'd put the top spec i9 imac 2019 in a mac mini - but with better cooling - as i dont need the screen, id be all over it

MacRS4 · 31 Mar 2019 at 20:21

Could you imagine! Yeah, would be pretty awesome. My Mini runs most of my 'always on' type Virtual estate. Works brilliantly, and quickly.